Design and analysis of a morphing flap structure for high lift wing

This paper presents the design, modeling and analysis of a morphing trailing edge (TE) flap for a large aircraft high lift wing. Attention was firstly focused on the design of an actuation system to smoothly deflect the flexible rear part of the flap to achieve a specified shape. An existing curved beam eccentuator design was adapted to the current structure together with an open sliding trailing edge. Additional connections were set between the upper and lower skins to ensure the integrity of the flap structure, under the aerodynamic and actuation loads, was maintained. Different types of connections were investigated and modeled to represent the practical design case. The effects of the aerodynamic pressure load on the flap structure and on the actuation load were analyzed. Subsequently a nonlinear structural modeling and analysis of the flap TE were carried out. A stress and strain analysis was performed to ensure a safe design and also to study the TE flap mechanical behavior under both actuation and aerodynamic load. The results showed that the proposed design solution is simple and able to achieve the desired flap morphed shape.